Faroe Islands with toddler. Does this make sense?

How to organize a trip to the Faroe Islands with a child to make it a pleasure for everyone? Is it worth taking the toddler with you at all, or is it better to leave with grandma and grandpa?

When I recently told a friend that we were in the Faroe Islands in August, one of the first questions she asked was: who was taking care of my daughter in Poland during that time? Well… no one ;)

No one, because Olive, of course, flew with us and accompanied us in all the activities on site. Of course, things have not always been rosy, as discussed in the following post.

Demanding direction

We have already highlighted this in several posts about the Faroe Islands, we will highlight it here as well. The Faroe Islands are not for everyone. It is a place where beautiful landscapes and trekking routes dominate. Add to that the fact that there is no guarantee of good weather, and you may find yourself spending most of your days in your car, in a handful of pubs or a hotel/apartment, with the only views being those from behind windshields or a brief trip to a viewpoint. Yes, I know, the worst-case scenario. Fortunately, contrary to appearances, it does not rain nonstop in the Faroe Islands, so there is even a chance for sunny days :-)

Why are we writing about it? To prepare yourself and your child for inclement weather. Rain does not mean we should sit at home! I don’t know where the belief persists in Poland that when it’s colder or raining we don’t go anywhere with the baby. I went out for a walk with Olive recently as it was lightly sprinkling – the neighborhood seemed to die out, everyone fleeing to their homes, and Olive had the most fun as she was able to enter a puddle! It is known, when it pours and blows so that trees are uprooted we can restrain ourselves ;)

So in the Faroe Islands we were prepared for different conditions. On the plus side, the temperature here is fairly constant so clothing planning is limited to taking something rainproof. We always had with us in the car a raincoat for Olive and a change of clothes in case we were caught in more rain.

And this happened several times ;) As a rule, we tried to go to the area where it was supposed to be nicer, but in practice it worked out differently.

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Another problem can be that the routes are scattered throughout the archipelago and in order not to duplicate them you often have to travel tens of kilometers by car, which is not always liked by children. We hit a period when Olive was not a fan of riding in a car seat, so any parent can imagine how much effort it cost us to drive even that half hour. Riding through tunnels in general was the worst experience. While there, we tried to plan the route so that as much of it as possible would fall into a nap. It even gave us an hour to reach our destination.

Another issue is the journey to the archipelago itself. Although the flights are not long, the trip can take a full day, as connecting flights are not always convenient. For us, the most tiring time was at the Copenhagen airport. On the planes Olive slept like a baby and gathered strength ;) At the airport, on the other hand, she gave it a go, and we still regret that there was no playground at such a large airport.

Child’s age vs. on-site attractions

Personally, I think the key is to consider when is the best time to go to the Faroe Islands with your child. When it is still tiny, is it better to wait until it grows up?

Keeping in mind the previous paragraphs, it is best to either take a younger one (an infant who does not yet move independently) or one that already walks efficiently, likes to climb and can walk several kilometers. This is mainly due to one fact: most of the attractions are scenic walking routes, and to see the really special places you have to walk around a bit. Don’t count on museums, special animations or children’s corners.

Our daughter was already walking, but not yet confidently and steadily enough to walk at least part of the route on her own. She spent most of her time in the carrier and it suited her very well. If we were in a settlement or a place where the surface was safe then we tried to make it move on its own as much as possible.

To be honest, now I would hesitate whether the Faroe Islands are a good destination when the child is already walking efficiently and only wants to follow his own paths. It’s probably better to wait until walking the entire, at least several kilometers long, route is not a challenge. We, fortunately, hit this period just before Olive wants to go everywhere on her own already.

Family-friendly places with children?

We haven’t been to many restaurants, but in the few we have, there hasn’t been the slightest problem with the availability of chairs for children (or special overlays mounted on standard chairs).

The problem, however, was the availability of changing tables, as we saw maybe one or two of those. Fortunately, the Faroe Islands abound in public toilets: even in the smallest villages you can use a public toilet.

We also did not see any children’s corners or toys available. Nevertheless, traveling with a child, we did not arouse negative emotions and did not hear any comments. Everyone was helpful, smiling.

What to bring with you?

As we have already written, first of all, good, warm and rainproof clothing. Our discovery was a wool set from Decathlon: a turtleneck plus gaiters, which were perfect for warming up on colder and windy days. We wore them under a sweatshirt and pants, plus a thinner jacket, and it was fully sufficient.

As for food and grooming supplies, you can buy everything in the Faroe Islands – a matter of price ;) We took most things from Poland, even a set of diapers for the whole trip, because we did not know what prices to expect locally. And that was a mistake. As I mentioned in this post about prices in the Faroe Islands, I was very pleasantly surprised by the prices of disposable, organic diapers. If I had known, we would not have taken any supplies, and in fact we would have taken some to Poland ;)

As you may have already noticed, the carrier accompanied us most of the time. We used Free to Grow Play, by TULA, which can be purchased from Mamazen.co.uk, among others. It worked great, we didn’t spare this carrier and it went through a lot with us starting from walking in the rain to squeezing into smaller and smaller backpacks. It still presents itself as new, it is not frayed or rubbed, the threads do not break. Recommended! :)

So is there a point in taking a stroller? We took it, but we would have done just as well without it. The stroller only worked well at the airport, in the stores and in Tórshavn. In other places there was no point in even unfolding it, but nevertheless we carried it with us all the time.

Summary

So is there any point in taking a child to the Faroe Islands? There is no definite answer! It all depends on the behemoth. On the trails we saw a lot of children aged 5+, who were doing great, but we didn’t see any toddlers of Olivia’s age (among the tourists, because there is a real glut of toddlers among the locals ;-)).

During our stay we had only a few “crises” mainly related to car travel, but otherwise we can’t complain about anything (Olive probably also :-)). Maybe we just happened to hit the perfect timing in terms of Olive’s development? ;)

See also our all posts about Faroe Islands:)